| |
“WELCOME BACK, GENTLE Al-Kindi. I’m sorry it’s under these conditions,” Ruhger said, with a slight bow.
Al-Kindi glared, his body rigid and fists clenched. “I am not happy to be back.”
Ruhger nodded in acknowledgment. Neither of them was happy about Nari’s abduction by Phalanx Eagle. “Will you please join us in the dining hall?” He waved his hand as an invitation.
“I will not break bread with you.”
“The dining hall is our conference room. There are refreshments. If you choose to indulge, there is no obligation on either side. It’s merely a service of the fold transport.” Ruhger sighed internally. He couldn’t blame the man for his anger, no matter how misplaced. He followed Al-Kindi’s billowing robes down the passageway and into the dining hall. The crew sat at the table, the Scholar scowling as usual. Wonderful; hostility at both ends. Everyone greeted Al-Kindi with expressions of sorrow and anger.
Ruhger sat in his usual place at the head of the table. An urgent notification appeared in his holo from the Gov Human communications system. He held up a finger. “Stand by one.” He impatiently entered all the security details. Well, a surprising turn of events. Whether a good or a bad event would depend entirely on the makeup of the team. “We should delay this brief a little. Seems Gov Human is sending us help.”
“What kind of help?” Al-Kindi asked, his eyes narrowing.
“A Space Force tactical team with a specialty in hostage rescue. Pararescue.” Even though parachutes weren’t used in military operations anymore, the name stuck. Ruhger certainly hoped his team wouldn’t require the real pararescue specialty, the rescue of military pilots behind enemy lines. He half-shrugged. “Good or bad news will depend entirely on the team itself, particularly the leaders. I anticipate some arrogance and disdain for our skills but I hope we can overcome any issues and work together.”
“Do I get a say?” Al-Kindi snarled.
Ruhger frowned. “I doubt it. I doubt any of us have any real say or authority if Gov Human is getting involved.”
“Are they at least incognito?” Tyron asked.
Ruhger scanned the message again. “Yes. The shuttle has a civilian registration from Antlia. Common name is ‘Clobbered Turkey’ and they’re due in shortly.” Odd name for a shuttle.
Chief grunted and slapped his wrench into his palm. “Some cover.”
Ruhger waited.
“According to Old Earth legend, the very first pararescue was for the crew of a downed plane named Clobbered Turkey.” Chief shook his head derisively. “The rescue was a failure, by the way, although it did point out the need for trained pararescue personnel.”
Ruhger leveled a stare at him in return. “How many people know that, Chief?”
“I did. I’m sure Galactica does.”
Katryn said, “A shuttle docked themselves at Delta One. I’m holding off their entry.”
Ruhger jumped to his feet. “Battle stations. Tyron, with me; Chief, command. Al-Kindi, stay with Loreli.” Feet pounding on the plas, he and Tyron positioned themselves to target the Delta One airlock. Tyron opened the Delta Two airlock door and aimed his laser rifle around it. Ruhger sprinted around the passageway corner, aiming his laser pistol. Too bad he didn’t have his rifle with him.
Chief said, “Net, status.”
“Still contained, but their net tech is good,” Katryn said. “No use of explosives or other forcible entry—yet. Team of four, soft armor, long arms and pistols—hmm, Gov Human patches. Exterior hatch blocked open. They took out the primary vid system in the airlock, but missed the secondary.” Sly satisfaction was clear in her tone.
Ruhger brought up the vid, confirming what Katryn reported, and watched for explosives deployment. He brought up the life safety protocols and readied the commands to close the safety hatches around Delta One.
“Keep holding,” Chief said. “Loreli, defense?”
“Normal. No other shuttles nearby.”
“Offense?”
“Ready, waiting on targets,” Grant said.
“Pilot?”
“Ready,” the Scholar said.
“Stand by,” Chief said. “Message on Gov Human communications system says the team in our airlock is Pararescue Five. They’re requesting entry. I’m replying ‘no’ until they ditch the rifles and helmets and show give us official identity confirmation for the entire team. Saree, get Ruhger his rifle; I’ve got Lightwave. Net, status.”
“Holding. Bugger is tricky; they’re using the Gov Human system to infiltrate. I can’t shut it down unless we disconnect it manually.” Katryn’s voice hissed frustration.
“If they’re the real thing, that’s how we’re communicating—might not be a good idea,” Chief said.
“Disconnect, force them to use normal comms and procedures. Kick them off the folder,” Ruhger suggested.
“Concur. Grant, disconnect that Gov Human system. Saree, after you deliver the rifle, bring up the shuttle detach protocol and thrust them away. Override the ‘airlock open’ safety warning. Full defense after they’re gone. Hope their armor is space-worthy.” Chief’s last sentence held a bit of glee.
“Grant, panel three in the engine control room, power and comms connections are labeled,” Tyron said. “Pull both. There’s a backup battery.”
“Copy.”
Ruhger heard pounding feet behind him and turned, pistol ready, but pointed at the overhead. The Scholar sprinted to him, rifle in one hand, pistol in another, both ready to fire. She is perfect. He shoved the thought away. Running to meet her, Ruhger grabbed the rifle, darted back to his position, and aimed at the hatch.
Blast, it would take a few minutes for Grant to get down there and the Scholar to get back into Alpha shuttle. But as he brought up Lightwave’s command and control interface, he saw she was already implementing the shuttle release routine. Ruhger smirked. He wasn’t the only one who could sprint and work a C2 procedure. She might be a black hole of sorrow and anger on a personal level, but it didn’t stop her from thinking or acting.
The figures in the airlock spun around, facing their shuttle. Hope the Clobbered Turkey’s pilot closed their shuttle airlock when the team entered Lightwave’s. Ruhger huffed a chuckle. Obviously, they anticipated an easy infiltration. To be fair, if they’d used explosives, the team would be inside Lightwave now. But Ruhger and Tyron could easily hold off four attackers in the tight confines of the passenger corridor. After this was over, they’d have to figure out how the Clobbered Turkey flew so close without triggering surveillance warnings. Probably infiltrated their net first. With Katryn at half-speed from the Brain Drain drug and Tyron still recovering and worried about Katryn, they were probably relying on the automation too much. It was a lousy trick to use the Gov Human interface against them, though, since he was pretty sure most attackers couldn’t. Ruhger’s mouth twisted. Or maybe they could. Government work went to the lowest bidder. Katryn had complained bitterly about not being given access to the system, but probably hadn’t gone digging for the specs on merc net, relying on Gov Human’s net security. A mistake in hindsight. With her decreased capacity, did Katryn realize she’d left a vulnerability? Perhaps the Gov Human system exceeded her current capabilities?
Ruhger looked at the airlock vid again. The struts keeping Lightwave’s exterior hatch open were at the bottom and top, not across the middle, leaving a large opening. “Chief, how about we blow them out the hatch?”
“Might send one or two flying before they latch on, unless they’ve already magnetized their boots. It’s worth a try. Can you do it?”
“Yes, I’m in life safety already. And the plas tiles should lessen the effectiveness of mag boots.”
“Do it. Loreli, get a couple of remotes out to round up any personnel so they can’t latch back on the hull.”
Ruhger swept through the life safety screens and found the Delta One airlock. When the Scholar detached the shuttle, the air had already escaped of course, but he could use the air handling system in ‘sanitation’ mode, designed to blow dangerous materials out the airlock. “Blowing in four, three, two, blow.”
He grinned when two of the figures tumbled out the lock. Two remained, hanging in the interior. Ruhger shut it off—no sense in wasting more air than they had to.
“Detaching Gov Human comms now,” Grant said.
Katryn exclaimed, “Hah! Take that, sand flea!”
“Main power, now.” Grant muttered a slightly pained curse. “And the battery backup...now.”
“Got ‘em. They’re shut out,” Katryn said. “At least for now.”
“Good job. Stay sharp, Katryn,” Chief said. “Saree, send us out-system at medium speed, keep pushing the Turkey away.”
“Chief, the two blown out the airlock got back on our hull before the remotes could get them,” Loreli said.
Chief grunted. “I’ll message that we’ll use the hull energizer next, but if these beings really are Gov Human, I don’t want to fry them.”
The two members blown out the airlock jetted back in and released the blocking struts, allowing the hatch to slam shut.
“Got a message with official identities and credentials and an offer of truce. If we allow their ship to reattach, they’ll retreat and disarm, and we can set a meeting time. They’ve also requested we reattach the Gov Human comms system.”
“Don’t do that until I have a chance to trap it, Chief,” Katryn said.
“Agreed,” Chief said. “I’m tempted to tell them to fly back to the Turkey, then message us properly, but they made the first move to end this peacefully, so I probably shouldn’t.”
“Better we end this now if we’re going to work together,” Ruhger said.
“Probably. All right, I’ll tell them they can come back, but ditch the armor and rifles. I’m sure they won’t agree to disarm completely, so I won’t ask. We’ll all have to be on our best behavior to make this work.”
“At least they didn’t succeed,” Katryn said.
“Oh, they’ll say they could have used explosives and gotten in,” Tyron said. “Which is true. But the blast doors would have shut. And they cheated by using the Gov Human system.”
“So both sides have success and failure.” Ruhger shrugged. “Hopefully we can get past the whole thing quickly and make a hostage rescue plan.”
The Scholar said, “If we just ignore all this and lead off with a situation brief, maybe we can avoid all the ego-blasting and get Nari back. That’s what counts.”
Ruhger said, “Concur. Chief, I’ve got command. Scholar, bring the Clobbered Turkey back in. Katryn, get that system trapped. Chief, tell them we’ll reconnect the Gov Human comms when we get it secured and we’ll have a situation brief after they’re disarmed. Tyron, we’ll keep our side arms, but rack the rifles in the chow hall. Check and make sure they didn’t leave us any presents in our net. Grant, you meet them at the hatch, armed but holstered. Loreli, snacks and drinks please. No alcohol. Objections?” Ruhger strode down the passageway, Tyron joining him. In the chow hall, Ruhger handed his rifle to Tyron, who racked them near the kitchen hatch, and started sweeping through holo screens.
Al-Kindi paced the room.
“I’m sorry about the delay. Hopefully the team will join us shortly and you can brief all of us on what you’ve done and the demands.”
Al-Kindi stopped, his robes swishing, eyes glaring with anger. “I don’t want them involved at all. The instructions specifically said no government interference.”
“We didn’t call them in. So, how did they know?”
His lips compressed, and breath hissed between his clenched teeth. “I have my suspicions. But they are only suspicions. I’m not happy about any of this.”
Ruhger nodded slowly. Probably some sort of pressure on Gov Human from his family or hers. As he recalled, both families were well-connected in Circinus. Or as well-connected as you could get from the remoteness of Circinus. He’d ask Grant to confirm or deny that when he got the chance. Ruhger grabbed five additional glasses and put another pitcher of water on the table for the team. Assuming they brought everyone onboard.
Loreli bustled from the kitchen with trays of food. “Saree, will you grab the bowls in there?” she said, nodding back at the kitchen.
“Certainly.”
“Oh, good, you got water glasses. The coffee station is ready, and once Saree has the bowls, we’ll have everything we need for a successful meeting,” Loreli beamed.
The food smelled delicious, but Ruhger was in no mood for snacks. Despite that, he appreciated Loreli’s attempt to make this meeting easier. “Thanks, Loreli, that’s perfect. You’ll stay for the brief?” Ruhger asked. She nodded her agreement. Ruhger turned to Al-Kindi. “Gentle Al-Kindi, I’ll introduce you and us, then ask the Gov Human team to introduce themselves and ask why they are here. They’ll probably say it’s to help with Nari’s rescue. If so, you describe the messages you received. Then we’ll plan our response. If they’re here for something else, we’ll listen and tell them we have to discuss amongst ourselves.”
“Agreed,” Al-Kindi said, bowing slightly.
The thud of boots on plas tiles sounded and Ruhger turned to face the chow hall hatch, careful to keep his hands away from his weapons and his face impassive. Grant entered and stepped to the side, waving a hand toward them. The Gov Human team strode in, a woman in the lead position. Short, similar in height and build to Katryn. Ruhger frowned. Her face was rather similar to Katryn’s as well, with slightly tilted eyes and dark hair, but not quite as pretty. She stopped two meters in front of him, her team lined up a meter behind her, legs spread and hands behind their backs in parade rest. Ruhger would rather see their hands, but understood the tradition.
Their leader raised her chin slightly and barked out, “Pararescue Team Five, Chief Master Sergeant Porter in command. Pilot, Master Sergeant Fisk.”
The man standing to her left took one step forward, bringing his hands down to his sides and his feet together, his boots clashing in the attention position. He was tall, but shorter than Grant, his coloring a warm tan, his face similar in cast to Ruhger’s with the hooked nose and heavy dark brown hair and brows. A slight sneer on his face and a jumping muscle in his jaw foretold trouble.
Porter said, “Team Medico, Trauma specialty, Technical Sergeant Holliday.”
Fisk stepped back and the next man in line stepped forward, much more casually. He was a bit shorter than Fisk and not quite as muscular, with the pale, freckled skin and black hair typical of the black Celtsch and a mischievous smile on his face. “Call me Doc.” He nodded, his smile widening by the second.
Porter said, “Staff Sergeant Carlos Lopez, surveillance and net.”
Doc stepped back and Lopez stepped forward into attention, but without all the pretentious clashing. Warm brown skin, similar in tone to the Scholar’s, unremarkable face, a little shorter than Doc. Completely blank expression.
Porter snapped, “Astro First Class Pitsenbarger. Weapons, pilot trainee.”
Los stepped back and Pitsenbarger forward, chin raised, sneer on her face. Tall female, with the olive skin, dark brown hair and hazel eyes common in Familia. Probably trouble, but not Ruhger’s problem. Clearly, Porter ran a tight ship.
Porter said, “Team, at ease.” She turned to him and opened her mouth.
Before she could assume control of the conversation, Ruhger spoke. “Captain Ruhger, Lightwave Fold Transport, Commanding.” He put more than a little emphasis on the last word, and Porter nodded again, but clearly in acknowledgement, not agreement. “Chief Porter, please take a seat. You and your team are welcome to our table. I’ll introduce the rest of the crew, then our guest will begin the situation brief.”
Porter nodded at him again, a slight lift of one brow signaling she understood what he was doing and would go along—for now. He was sure there’d be battles for control ahead. She said, “Team, seats.”
They strode to the far end of the table, Porter taking the seat at the end opposite his.
Ruhger sat, his crew falling in around him, with Al-Kindi and the Scholar on opposite sides of the table separating the two groups. Once they all sat, he filled his glass and took a sip, then sent the pitcher down the table to Porter. She filled her glass and took a sip as well.
“I’m also Lightwave’s primary pilot. All of us are pilots, both fold and shuttle, except Chef Loreli, who’s in training. Second-in-command and Engineer, Chief Bhoher, goes by ‘Chief.’ If I’m involved in a tactical mission, Chief has strategic and operational command. He’s very good at it. Also a weapons expert and expert in hand-to-hand fighting.”
Chief nodded at Porter.
“Tyron Phazeer, Security. Katryn Phazeer, Net Security. Both weapons experts and hand-to-hand as well.”
Tyron nodded, expression blank. Katryn scowled, mostly at Lopez.
“You already met Grant Lowe, Purser. Expert in hand-to-hand, some weapons. Also our primary researcher and public interface.”
Grant smoldered at Porter. Her mouth twisted slightly, but Ruhger couldn’t tell if it was derision or admiration.
“Chef Loreli, Culinary Institute Sirius. Weapons and hand-to-hand, pilot in training.”
Loreli beamed at the Gov Human team, batting her lashes in full-on flirt mode. “I’m so pleased to have a new audience for my fabulous creations,” she burbled. “Please, help yourselves.” Loreli swept her arm across the table.
Ruhger smirked at Pitsenbarger’s incredulous wide-eyed goggle. He continued, “Time Guild Member Saree of Jericho, also known as Scholar of Music Cary Sessan and a host of other aliases. Current alias is...” Rad and blast, he couldn’t keep track.
“I don’t think we’d settled on new identities for all of us yet, Captain. We were going to discuss that with Gentle Al-Kindi,” Scholar Sessan said briskly. “But my last fully developed identity was Sarai of Net Other. I registered as Saraa for the body mods on Mensa.” She nodded at him, but before he could speak, Porter did.
“You are our primary mission and asset,” Porter said. “Our objective is to ensure your safety. We’ll be taking you to a new shuttle and folder.”
“No, you will not,” the Scholar said, clear and cold. She rose, turned slightly toward Porter and put both hands on the table in front of her. Ruhger chuckled internally at the classic leadership pose. “Lightwave is my clutch and I will not abandon them. Nor will I abandon Nari Al-Kindi. Gov Human does not own or control me. If Gov Human wants the assistance of a human clock maintainer to maintain their frequency standards, then you will assist in the recovery of Nari Al-Kindi, under the command of Captain Ruhger, and then find a way to withdraw from Lightwave without giving us away. Is that clear?”
Ruhger noted Al-Kindi jolting backward in his seat, clearly shocked by the Scholar’s revelation and manner, but he didn’t want to look away from Porter. He had to back the Scholar’s play here or Porter would run over both of them. Porter stared at the Scholar for a long time. Finally, she said, “Your position is not a surprise to Gov Human. We’ll discuss it.” Then she sat back slightly and gazed at Al-Kindi. “And you are Al-Kindi, a ‘natural essences’ researcher and supplier. Which is true. But you’re better known as a poison supplier.”
“What someone does with the essences I discover is beyond my control,” Al-Kindi said. “And like most things, they can be used for good or evil.”
“Your family has disowned you, so they don’t believe that.”
“On the contrary, my family negotiated my marriage to Nari.” He smiled a little, but it wasn’t a nice smile. “None of this matters. What matters is getting her back. Now.”
“Yes, are you done with the posturing? Because if you’re not willing to help us retrieve Nari Al-Kindi, there’s really no point in you being here,” Grant said, his voice as sweet as one of Loreli’s desserts.
Ruhger stared at Porter. There was nothing to add to that statement.
Porter didn’t look away, which was unusual in Ruhger’s experience. Her mouth twisted. “Nothing to say, Captain?”
Ruhger continued staring and let the corners of his mouth rise in a smile. The sooner she realized this wasn’t her show, the better for all of them.